Ross Edgar may be key to Team GB winning team sprint

[divingbrit]

Ross Edgar may be key to Team GB winning team sprint at London Velodrome
Sir Chris Hoy's hopes of matching his three Olympic gold medal haul from Beijing four years ago could rest on the shoulders of fellow Scot Ross Edgar, according to Great Britain Cycling coach Iain Dyer.

Hoy claimed gold in the keirin, sprint and team sprint in the 2008 Games, but the retirement of Jamie Staff in 2010, who was the part of the three man sprint team alongside Hoy and Jason Kenny, has left a difficult gap to fill.

Staff rode in the lead-off position, or man one, and Dyer has admitted that finding the right replacement for the three-man combination has proved tricky, but believes Edgar could be the man to fill the role.

The British team are preparing for the final round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup, which is doubling as an Olympic test event and will be held at the London Velodrome next month.

Dyer is tasked with perfecting the team-sprint line-up before the Olympic Games, and has experimented with several options, with Kenny, Hoy and Matt Crampton selected for the European Track Cycling Championships in October 2011 and Edgar, Kenny and Jason Queally racing in the opening leg of the UCI Track World Cup in Kazakhstan.

However, Dyer believes 29 year-old Edgar could be key to securing gold in the team sprint at the London Games in August.

"Jamie Staff was such a very strong man one and when paired with Jason Kenny in man two and Chris Hoy in man three," Dyer said.

"We had a team where we could honestly say each athlete was the very best in the world in that position and that's a pretty rare occurrence for any team or relay style event.

"It's our plan to roll Ross out at man one, Jason [Kenny] at man two and Chris at man three at London World Cup and see what that gives us.

"Ross has been dealing with that challenge in the last year or two and I believe at this point has shown really good development and progression in that position."

Edgar has already tasted success at an Olympic Games when he won a silver in the keirin four years ago after he went head-to-head with Hoy in the all-British final, and he has also competed alongside the four-time Olympic champion for Scotland in two Commonwealth Games.

However, while Edgar is in Dyer's plan to replicate the team sprint success of Beijing, the London leg of the World Cup might come too soon to test the potential Olympic three-man line-up.

"Unfortunately in the last few weeks Ross has been battling against an injury," Dyer said. "We hope that he'll be on form for London but he might just come up a little short on time to rehabilitate the injury and progress his fitness once again."

Telegraph.co.uk